'69 Mustang Project

[afret]

Have posted this elsewhere but thought it will fit here pretty well. 


Started this last spring but still need to get the engine together and back in the car.  Jay did a similar conversion a few years ago.   Been busy lately with anther project which is getting my brother's IH tractor engine rebuilt and tractor put back together and preparing for moving out of CA.   



Started taking the car apart:




Fenders and hood hanging on the wall.




Engine out.





Took the interior apart and added a halo to the roll bar:








Cut out the rear tail light panel and trial fit the new panel, decklid, and end caps which needed a lot of work:










Tried on the new front end pieces which actually fit pretty well:








Got the new parts fitted pretty well and went on to spraying on primer:












Finally got to the point of getting paint on.  I think it was over 100* at this time. 












Started getting the car back together:












It was kind of a pain figuring out how the headlight buckets and stuff went together.  The things should come with some instructions and at least have some holes predrilled in the buckets.  LOL










The hood pin brackets were a pain too.  Got the hood opening mesh on.






Stuck the lace with lettering on.




Got the interior back together and installed the window net.  Tracked a lot of dust into the car.  LOL




Got the stripe on.









Added some lettering.
















One of these days we'll get the engine together and back in the car.   Probably will have to work on the front springs since we got rid of a bunch of weight.  The front end will probably be high even with the engine in place.

[My427stang]

Man that's pretty

When I did mine I considered going GT500 and chickened out, man I wish I did

[jayb]

Looks great, Earl!  Having gone through that conversion myself, I know what a pain getting the fiberglass parts to fit is, and how much screwing around is required with the headlight buckets, hood pins, rear lettering panel, etc.  Its a lot of work and frustration, but worth in it in the end; that is a beautiful car.

Can't wait to see photos of that thing hanging the front hoops 

[babybolt]

That's very cool, though right now out west your probably hoping for temperatures in two digits.

I'm pretty sure, ~95%, that its possible to install a Shelby tail light kit using LED lights and not cutting out the stock original taillight panel.  Guessing not what you want to hear now that the deed is done. 

What size tires, wheels, and wheel offsets are you using, and did you narrow the rear end?

[turbohunter]

Beautiful job.

[afret]

Thanks guys for all the kind words.  Yeah, it sure was a lot of work but turned out pretty well.

I don't see how you can install those T-Bird lights without replacing or cutting the rear panel?

The rear housing is the stock length.  The wheels are 15X10 with 6" BS.  If you have rear disc brakes, you could add maybe another 3/16" BS or so.

[amdscooter]

Really nice job there and I love the custom "paint booth". I was thinking of just hanging plastic in the garage, but setting up one of those frames in my buddys shop seems like a much better way to go.  keep us updated, wanna hear it when you fire it.

[jayb]

I don't see how you can install those T-Bird lights without replacing or cutting the rear panel?

I was wondering about that too.  Doug, can you elaborate?  FYI the rear fiberglass panel has a bulge that extends towards the front of the car, so you would at least have to cut that bulge away to have any chance of fitting without cutting the taillight panel.

[babybolt]

I just went the other way, had a 69 Mustang that had a Shelby taillight panel and took it out to go back stock.  They used a 68 Shelby taillight panel and diecast 65 Thunderbird back cans and only had to cut some holes in the stock 69 Mustang sheetmetal to clear the light socket wiring.  This was an older conversion.  With the new LED lights out now they would not had to cut the panel at all.

Posted some pictures below of the assembly as removed:

[afret]

Thor took the car to get the roll cage certified.  After an all day wait at the Spokane track, the roll cage got the sticker!  He should be taking the car to the track soon to get things worked out and hopefully he will get to run at the divisional race.  Got to get new tires and a new safety harness ordered.

[jayb]

Awesome, Earl.  What times are you shooting for?

[afret]

Thor is busing getting his Cougar roll cage ready for the certification inspection.  Hopefully he won't have to wait all day at the track again for that.  When he's done with that he plans to take the stocker out a few times to T+T to get used to it and get it dialed in some.  I don't know if he wants to put the wheelie bar back on it.

[ec164]

Great Job,also Great story, I really like your colors and stance.......Hope it shakes down good for you .......................Al

[sixty9cobra]

Nice work looks awesome!!!

[Tommy-T]

Good to see the stocker coming back together. It's also good to see that you and Thor are teaming up.

The car looks beautiful...and I'm sure it'll run good.

Mrs.-T and myself hope Kay is doing well too. Did you and he get your garages finished?

Wish we could come up and play along with y'all!

[afret]

Good to see the stocker coming back together. It's also good to see that you and Thor are teaming up.

The car looks beautiful...and I'm sure it'll run good.

Mrs.-T and myself hope Kay is doing well too. Did you and he get your garages finished?

Wish we could come up and play along with y'all!

Hey you guys should hurry up and retire and think about moving up here.  You can make friends with critters like this guy:



The garages are done finally.  My garage is on the smaller side but it let me move a lot of junk in there and gave me a lot more room to move around in my attached garage. 

[Heo]

MMMMMMM  Moose steak

[machoneman]

Hey, I'd put him to work as a car polisher, at least! 

[afret]

Thor in line at Spokane getting used to a car with a slush box, 2 step, and radials.  It's weird that the track won't let you use their scale so we could find out if it's a natural A car going by the NHRA classification or really a B car.

[cjshaker]

It's weird that the track won't let you use their scale so we could find out if it's a natural A car going by the NHRA classification or really a B car.

What in the world is their reasoning for not letting you use the scales??  That just seems plain stupid. What else are scales for, especially at a drag strip?

[machoneman]

Yeah, why no scales unless it's broken. Very weird.

I'd hit as big truck stop, coal truck station (rare). a sand/gravel material yard or a grain elevator with scales.  Careful here as they usually weigh much heavier vehicles. We'd hit two scales and split the difference if they were close.   

[jayb]

Those 69 Shelby clones are badass!   

[XR7]

Sure is awesome like you said Jay, Earl and Kay did a great job building this car. I am very fortunate to get to drive it! It really gets a lot of attention at the track, everyone loves it. The track manager is kind of a dick at times, he said the scale is only for use at the Divisional race, I think it's bull...

Another racer offered to use his oval track scales (4 corner weights) and I have a friend that has those type scales also, he just lives 175 miles away, but I could use them. I have also weighed a car at the trucks stop, they charge 10 bucks which is cheaper than gas, but they are designed for 80 to 100 THOUSAND pound trucks, and I wonder how accurate they are at only 3200 or so. We did weigh Randy's Mustang 2 modified production car now with an all aluminum FE at a truck scale, it weighed 2126. They are supposed to be "certified"...

I'm still fighting the hook with the radial slicks, this track is no National event prepped track, got it to hook and launch great two times out of nine, spinning bad the others, so still have work to do. The track was marginal, other guys were spinning too and there were 3 wrecks... I sure had fun though, and brought it back in one piece! I am sure Kay has some more pictures, he was there helping me at the track along with a few friends, and took plenty of pictures.

[mike7570]

Looks like a natural A car?  where did you want to run it?

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Classification.aspx?VALUE=23155&TRANS=0

[afret]

Got some scales and weighed the car.  I think it's better as a B car.  The surprising thing is the Shelby clone with no ballast is still over  200lbs lighter than my red '69 which weighs about 3300lbs.  And the red car has only a roll bar and lighter Kirkey seats and the clone has the stock seats and a cage.

[afret]

A few more photos of Thor at Spokane a few weeks ago.

[turbohunter]

Damn that's beautiful.

[thatdarncat]

Looking sharp. I'll be watching the National Dragster, hoping you have some success.

[Heo]

Nice

[ec164]

Great looking car, appears when it didn't spin it worked well. Good Luck......................Al

[bobb428]

Looks great Earl! Good job on the wheelie Thor!

[mike7570]

Afret, did you reposition the upper A arms (Shelby drop) ?
I notice the front wheels are pretty straight while off the ground.
What kind of front springs did you use n the car? I need to order some for my stocker project and I'm not sure what to use. When I ran my '67 coupe in sst I used 6 cyl. Springs but all they did was lead to flattened headers.
Thanks Mike7570

[afret]

Afret, did you reposition the upper A arms (Shelby drop) ?
I notice the front wheels are pretty straight while off the ground.
What kind of front springs did you use n the car? I need to order some for my stocker project and I'm not sure what to use. When I ran my '67 coupe in sst I used 6 cyl. Springs but all they did was lead to flattened headers.
Thanks Mike7570

The car already had the UCA drop when I bought it.

I think it has the Moog 8306 springs.  They were also in place when I got the car.  The headers have survived with only a couple small spots that hit so far but we've lost a couple of oil pans.

[Tommy-T]

Gosh you guys...I wanna play too!

Earl, I'm sure glad you and Thor got together and are running the car.

It looks great hang'n the hoops!

[afret]

Gosh you guys...I wanna play too!

Earl, I'm sure glad you and Thor got together and are running the car.

It looks great hang'n the hoops!

Hey, you and Mrs-T have to hurry up and retire and move up here to North ID.   

[TomP]

That looks great! Nice job on it all.
 Besides reduced weight is there any engine advantages to it being a Shelby? I know the 67 and 68's seem to have some odd specs.

[mike7570]

Tom, if you click on engine specs button at the bottom of the link I posted on page 2 it will show you the engine specs that can be used for a 69 Shelby.